Mrs Tambourine Man
by xirobotx
Summary: When Dr Callie Torres goes out to drown her sorrows the last thing she expected to find was love in the form of a young musician. However thing's don't go smootly for the young couple, when fame hits.
1. Chapter 1

There seemed to be no escaping it. The halls of a hospital were certainly no place for peace and quiet.

She knew that. She had been here long enough. Yet today it seemed different. Today it was different. Today she had to escape it. Everyone was still whispering, still pointing and discussing. Only now they were focused on her. All the hushed conversations were about her. All of the eyes were looking at her. And she knew it.

"Callie!"

She awoke from her thoughts, and looked up at the man heading toward her.

"Jeez you look like death"

His harsh words were said with a devilish grin. Had it been anyone else saying that right now she's not sure she could have held her clenched fists at her side any longer. It was Mark however. Instead she gave him a light slap on the arm.

"Thanks" She replied, dripping with sarcasm.

Mark was her best friend. One of the only people to stand by her the past few months during her recent let's just say, indiscretion.

"Coffee?" It was more of a statement than a question,

Callie was hardly going to turn down caffeine given her lack of sleep. As they headed towards the hospital cafeteria Callie barely looked up from the tiled floor beneath her.

"You know Torres, you really need to get over this." Callie couldn't hold in her scoff. "It's no one's business what you do outside these walls. Take it from me; you can't let it get to you."

"I know Mark, but come on, you know what this place is like, as much as I'd like to think everyone will mind their own business, and they're not going to be talking behind my back for the next few months, it's going to happen." The brunette took a deep breath. "Doesn't make it any easier though."

Dr Sloan slung his arm around his best friends' shoulders and pulled her in tightly.

"We're going out tonight"

Callie attempted to interject, but was quickly cut off.

"I don't want any excuses. We are going out tonight. We are getting drunk tonight. And I won't hear any word against it!" He smiled picking up his fresh coffee and walking away. She hadn't even noticed they had made it to the café. Never mind noticing Mark ordering his coffee. Her mind was scrambled.

Callie lifted her double espresso. If she was going out tonight, sleep wasn't going to be an option. She needed all the help she could get just to reach the end of her shift.

ooo

"You're leaving me? You cannot be serious!"

The Latina began rushing around the room, throwing her clothes haphazardly into a duffle bag.

"Can't we work this out? What have I done? Thing were going great. Callie! Stop! What the hell's happening?"

The young woman grabbed a hold of her girlfriend by the shoulders and looked through her tear soaked eyes into those brown eyes she had looked at so many times before. They were different now. There was sadness to them, a darkness she had never noticed before.

"It's not working Zooey." Her voice broke as she tried to speak. "It's just, it's not going to work. I can't keep going on like this, it's not worth it. It's not fair on you."

"Can't we fix it? Please Callie, just let me fix it."

"It's not fixable, it's me, I'm not fixable. I don't want to hurt you anymore Zooey. I'm sorry."

And with that Callie left the house she had shared with her girlfriend for the past two years, with no thought of returning.

"I'll send Mark for my things."

Dr Zooey Martins tendered her resignation with immediate effect, the following day at Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital.

ooo

"Torres! Move your ass!"

Mark was ready and raring to go. Callie…not so much.

She was staring at herself intently through the foggy mirror in her bathroom. She hated how little privacy she got now that she was living with Mark. She applied the finishing touches to her makeup, and made for the doorway.

"Right, keep your hair on Sloany boy, lets go!" She said attempting her best to be as perky and optimistic as she used to be.

She was going to have a good night out with her best friend.

Scratch that she was going to have an amazing night out. It had been so long since her and Mark had hit the town, that she was actually getting relatively excited about the prospect of a good old fashioned drunken, banter filled night with him.

"So where are we off to then?" She asked, worried about what dinky smelly little bar they would end up in, as usual, when it was his choice of establishment.

"There's a gig I want to check out before we club it. Supposed to be amazing, just this little blonde chick and her guitar."

Callie's face dropped.

"Oh yeah, sounds amazing Mark."

And with that Callie grabbed the keys from the table and headed to the door.

There was a light rain hanging in the sky, but that was to be expected in Seattle, it was unusual if rain wasn't far away.

"Hurry up Callie, I want to get my drink on!" Mark shouted back to his raven haired friend as he hailed a cab.

As they threw themselves into the back of the yellow taxi, Mark pulled a small hipflask from his pocket before taking a swig and handing it to her. The brown liquid burned her throat as it slid its way down. It was good.

"Right, so where are we off to?" The older gentleman half-shouted from the front of the car.

"Bus Stop, on Capitol Hill" Mark replied before taking another swig from his flask, and coughing hard. "That stuff hits the spot" He said smiling at Callie, who was staring intently out of the window.

"Callie, snap out of it"

"Sorry, I just don't know if I'm up for this yet." She said solemnly.

"Well, if you're not, you better hurry up, 'cause we're here"

They stepped out of the taxi into the busy street surrounding them.

"Who is it we're here to see again?" Callie shouted over the hustle and bustle.

The handsome doctor just replied by pointing at the sign flashing in the window.

"Introducing the newest rockette on the folk music scene.

Arizona Robbins."


	2. Chapter 2

The two friends pushed their way across the crowded pavement. The bar was already nearly full and as the sign on the door stated, the act wasn't to start for another hour. Seemingly popular this musician was.

Callie really couldn't have cared any less about who she was to be seeing on stage tonight. She didn't plan on looking at anyone other than the bartender and Mark, or looking at anything except a full glass of hard liquor. As soon as a glass was empty she expected her friend to have another waiting on her. That was the plan of her night.

"One in, one out!" Shouted the bouncer over the hustle and bustle outside of the street.

'You've got to be kidding me' Callie thought to herself. She needed out of the rain, and a drink in her hand now. There was no way she was queuing for this little bar and some singer she didn't care to see at all.

"Mark lets go somewhere else, sack this man"

But luckily for her, Mark had friends.

"SLOAN!" One of the bald, 6ft, block of muscles shouted from the door.

And within two minutes Callie and Mark were inside, at the VIP section of the bar with two whiskeys in hand.

"Thank God for your charm Dr Sloan." Callie said slapping her best friend on the back. "How'd you get in with him?"

"Well, see that tiny scar on his cheek?" Mark asked.

"Yeah?"

"That was me" Mark smirked "That man should barely have a face after his dog turned nasty on him" And with a wink he threw back his whiskey, slammed the empty glass on the bar and received another with a sexy smile from the young slender bartender.

"Lets get messy"

ooo

"You cheated?" Mark looked almost proud.

"Don't say it like that" Callie said through gasping sobs "You sound happy about it."

"Well I wouldn't say im happy Cal, but come on. You. Cheated. You don't cheat, ever. And Zooey? To cheat on Zooey, seriously. What in the hell were you thinking?"

"I. Don't. Know." Callie said attempting to breathe.

"You don't love her man. I can see it. You know it. Everyone knows it." Mark sighed. "If you did, there's no way you could have done that."

"I know Mark. I really thought I loved her. I really wanted to love her.

Look at her! She's gorgeous. She's funny. She's everything I could ever look for."

"But you don't love her."

"I don't love her"

ooo

Callie threw back her 6th...or was it 7th, tequila of the evening in remembering this conversation with Sloan.

They had been in the bar around a hour and she was getting incredibly light on her feet already. It certainly was to be a messy evening.

"Sloan, whens this chick on? I want out of her, I need to get my dance on."

Callie yelled over the constant noise of the bar.

And as she turned and pointed to her empty glass another was put in front of her. She took a long swig of her beer before lifting the next tequila.

"'Blue. Songs are like tattoos, you know I've been to sea before'"

There was a sudden and defeating silence around the once mobbed room

"'Crown and anchor me, or let me sail away'"

That voice. That was unbelievable. It stopped Callie dead in her tracks as she lifted the small glass to her lips. She suddenly stopped.

It was angelic. She could have sworn Grace Slick was on stage singing the soft words of Joni Mitchell. She turned slowly to see Mark standing with a stupid grin on his face, and the rest of the crowd stood in awe.

If only she could see what they were looking at. Damn, she should have worn those heels tonight. Her and her practicality of making sure that she could get legless tonight and not have heels as another reason for her falling over.

She pulled over the bar stool and stood on the small perch at the bottom.

It was as though time was moving at a snails pace. Slowly the young woman and her guitar came into view.

Her blonde hair was hanging over her face as she strummed at the guitar. Not quite visible yet. The vision was wearing a pair of faded jeans and a plain white tshirt that hung from her. Callie was pretty sure she would've been as at home sitting in the park playing this guitar and singing to herself as she was playing to this busy, smoky bar.

And then the woman looked up.

Dr Calliope Torres was smitten.


End file.
